Lime 5: Embolism

 This section starts with several deaths gleaned from medical journal articles. 

"Amy" was 35 years old when she took advantage of New York's new law allowing outpatient abortion-on-demand, somewhere in the state of New York on December 24, 1970. She was 14 weeks pregnant. During the abortion, Amy suffered from a massive pulmonary embolism. Efforts to save her life finally failed, and she died on January 2, 1971, leaving behind two children.

"Danielle," age 18, had decided to take advantage of the liberalized law, and traveled from Massachusetts to New York for a safe and legal abortion. On May 17, 1972, the abortion was performed. Minutes after the abortion was completed, Danielle was dead from air that had gotten into her blood stream.

The four women from the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, September 15, 1978 issue did not have enough information to identify their specific dates of death, or even the year other than that they died in the early 1970s. I haven't been able to correlate them to the women in the Cemetery of Choice. I'll give them names and add them to the Cemetery of Choice when the website is functional again:

"Ella," age 31, was 8 weeks pregnant when she underwent an abortion. She experienced nausea, chest pains, and cardiopulmonary issues. Two hours after admission to a hospital she died of respiratory arrest and pulmonary embolism.  "Eden" was 17 years old when she underwent a 9-week abortion. Two weeks later she developed swelling and pain in her left calf. She was admitted to a hospital and diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism. Six days later she went into cardiac arrest and died. On autopsy, retained fetal tissue was found in her uterus. "Evie" was 20 years old and had a history of ventricular septal defect and pulmonary hypertension. After her abortion she suffered abdominal bleeding and chest pain, so she was hospitalized. Five days later she died with pulmonary emboli. "Estella" was 34 years old and 10 weeks pregnant when she underwent what seemed to be an uneventful abortion. Twelve days later she was discovered unconscious at her home. She was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. Pulmonary emboli were found on autopsy.

Non-fatal case for which I need source documents:

"Linda" was 34 years old and 15 weeks pregnant when Harold Hoke (John Roe 436) performed an abortion on her on April 8, 1981. She contacted the clinic a week later to report pain, chills, and bleeding. She returned as instructed for an exam, but when she arrived they told her that Hoke was out of town and sent her home. The next day she arrived, "barely able to walk due to pain and loss of blood." Staff told her that Hoke was still out of town, but took her to an exam room where she followed instructions to disrobe and stand over a piece of paper to catch the blood. Meanwhile staff tracked down Hoke then told Linda to drive to his clinic in another city. Linda said she was too ill to drive, so staff kept her at the clinic until it closed so that an employee could drive her home. She bled heavily during the ride. The employee told Linda to lie down and rest. The next day, Linda was taken to the emergency room for life-threatening complications including retained fetal tissue, infection, a perforated uterus, and a pulmonary embolism. She had to undergo a hysterectomy due to the damage. (ORIGINAL SOURCE NEEDED: Cumberland County, NC, Superior Court File No. 84CVS1381)

Deaths I need original documents for:

Mary Ives was 28 when she had an abortion 19 weeks into her pregnancy. She was admitted to W.W. Backus Hospital in Norwich, Connecticut, for treatment of complications of the abortion, but her heart and lungs failed due to amniotic fluid embolism (amniotic fluid that got into Mary's bloodstream). Mary was pronounced dead on August 7, 1983. (NEED ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS: "Fatal Pulmonary Embolism During Legal Induced Abortion in the United States from 1972-1985," Lawson et al., American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Vol. 162, No. 4, April 1990, p. 986-990; Connecticut Death Certificate No. 106-83-017389)

Somehow "Manuela" never made it into the Cemetery of Choice. She was 36 years old when she underwent an abortion on May 26, 1988. She sustained an embolism that caused cardiac arrest, and died on June 6. (NEED ORIGINAL DOCUMENT: California Death Certificate No. 88-087890)

I believe that "Lynn" is Lynn McNair. She was 24 years old and 23 weeks pregnant when she went to Jewish Memorial Hospital in New York for an abortion in March of 1979. Her doctor, Edward Rubin (John Roe 729), chose the saline abortion method, in which amniotic fluid is removed with a large syringe and then replaced with a sterile salt solution strong enough to be toxic. Because of risks to the mother, Japan, Sweden, and the Soviet Union all banned the saline abortion method before abortion was even legalized in the United States. The first injection of saline failed to kill the fetus, so Rubin injected a second dose of saline. Lynn went into convulsions and slipped into a coma. Amniotic fluid, tainted with the strong salt solution, got into her blood stream and damaged her lungs. She died on March 23, leaving two children motherless. Rubin continued to perform abortions, performing a fatal abortion on 28-year-old Dawn Mendoza at Women's Medical Pavilion in Dobbs Ferry, NY in 1988. (NEED ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS: "Fatal Pulmonary Embolism During Legal Induced Abortion in the United States from 1972-1985, Lawson, Herschel W., MD, Atrash, Hani K., MD, MPH, Franks, Adele L., MD, American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Vol. 162, No. 4, April 1990, p. 986-990; New York County (NY) Supreme Court Docket No. 4492-81)

Death I already have original documents for:

Sixteen-year-old Erica Kay Richardson was brought to Dr. Gene Crawford by her aunt on March 1, 1989 for a safe, legal abortion performed without her mother's knowledge. Erica's aunt had gone to Crawford because Washington Center Hospital considered Erica's pregnancy to be too advanced for a safe abortion. Erica's aunt reported that Crawford left the girl unattended and bleeding for four hours after her abortion, then at 11PM carried her to the car and instructed her aunt to take her home and put her to bed. Erica's aunt, a nurse, instead took the girl to Bowie Hospital Center, where she was admitted already in respiratory arrest. Erica died of an embolism (foreign matter or air in the bloodstream) shortly after midnight on March 2. Her uterus and cervix had been punctured during the 19-week abortion. 

Watch Lime 5: Embolism on YouTube.